I have a town house that I am currently renting out for $995/month. Between my mortgage and association dues, I'm losing $425/month. The value of the home has declined to the point where their is no equity. I own my own business and three other properties. I can't get the lender to work with me at all and I'm considering walking away. How bad will this hurt my credit?

Your credit will be severely damaged for up to seven years.  If you depend on credit to fund your business operations, a foreclosure on your credit could have devastating effects.

....and if you cannot afford to lose this much money a month, THAT could have devastating effects if you continue to dump money into a losing investment, not popular advice but you have to weigh all options.

How upside down is the home? Are you struggling to pay all your other obligations?

Steve, I agree w/ you. Especially when you have your own business, personal credit is extremely important to maintain a self-employed business.  If you really cant find the $425 somewhere (bumping up rent on other props, or cutting out a personal luxary expense), short sell (if possible) the property.  Depends how up side down you are on it. 

You need to maximize and i mean MAXIMIZE your attempt at a modification or short sale.  Those are two of the best answers in lieu of walking away.

Agree with Matt, if it comes down to it, two better choices are 1) loan mod if doable (of which someone on here could help you) or 2) short sale, which can still hurt credit somewhat as it will look like a closed line, but nothing like filing bk or full foreclosure. Had some friends do short sales and credit wasn't affected too much.

Agreed. If you would like to keep the home for the long term investment, a modification would be a great avenue to ease the current mortgage payment. If you are not concerned with holding on to this investment any longer, a short sale would be a suitable route to get out of the property without just "walking away".

If you would like to discuss the possibility of opening up these options, feel free to contact me and I'd be happy to help you with some direction. To give you some insight for now, here is our website to give you a little perspective of how a loan modification could help you.

http://www.nbloanmod.com

MBSDaily:

You need to maximize and i mean MAXIMIZE your attempt at a modification or short sale.  Those are two of the best answers in lieu of walking away.

I think I can help with this one, but I have a few quick questions :  Who is your current lender on the townhouse?  How much are you upside down in the property?  Do your other properties generate positive cashflow, or at least come close to breaking even?  Look forward to talking to you soon!  My email is ethanbrizzi@gmail.com

Hope you are having a great day!!!